Broadcasters do not obey the era of Netflix Living

PASADENA, Calif. – If there is a high point about Netflix's status as the “cool kids” taking TV, it could be remembered as an emotional Chuck Lorre taking a best Golden Globe comic last month for “The Kominsky Method”. , ”Show the streaming service.

Lorre is one of the most successful comic producers in television history, with an estimated net value of more than $ 600 million after producing shows including "The Big Bang Theory,"; Two and a Half Men and "Mom" for CBS. he never won an Emmy or a Golden Globe, and he hopes that he would not be “The Kominsky Method” on broadcast television and with a larger actor Michael Douglas.

Despite the terrible horror, the leaders of traditional television networks insist that they are fighting back, and that they can mean opening. Its survival may depend on it.

"I think it created an opportunity to say that we are providing a unique platform," said Paul Telegdy, co-chair of NBC's George Cheeks.

Many experts found that this was whistling into the wind, as the place is not to be streamed? Netflix, Amazon, Hulu seem to have hairless wallets and are watching how a new generation wants to eat TV. For the first time, services have streamlined more screen shows than broadcast networks or cable networks last year. Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, and even Barack and Michelle Obama, agreed to make shows for Netflix.

Streaming feels like the future, and CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox get a time when you wanted to quit the sofa to change channels, and the rabbit's ears could be changed for a better reception.

Even with fraction ratings of what they had in monopoly glory days, the broadcast networks say that their biggest advantage is the opportunity to offer a large audience. Networks are still the only distribution system capable of delivering a perfect picture to almost every house in America, said John Landgraf, chief executive of FX Networks.

While network execs are jealous when streaming shows hit prizes up, "my family never heard about them," said NBC Cheeks.

Networks argue that creators would create a less restrictive environment for Netflix to risk losing them in a material ocean. The streaming service offered original original 500-plus shows last year.

"This makes it harder for networks and cards to compete," said Karey Burke, ABC's new entertainment president. "But, to be honest, I probably noticed that last year away from my friends are creative for being part of that volume. I think networks can be offered in terms of our ability to market a market." , to send it is in a show, to schedule a show so that it will be seen, value still exists. "

The biggest example of this advantage was when CBS focused on its new talent show, "The World's Best," just after the Super Bowl and saw 22 million people.

TV executives suggest that Netflix rarely releases high verifiable money on how many people watch their shows. Netflix did not reply to comments.

The basic message of broadcasters: the giant has many failures too.

"If you want a great community experience, if you are … if you have a passionate project that you hope will add greatly to the culture of the community, do you think this can be done best?" I asked Charlie Collier, chief executive of Fox entertainment.

Unlike the streamers, the broadcast shows are “week out and week out there and like the feedback so many producers, they like to be in front of the audience every weekend,” said Kelly Kahl, CBS entertainment president. "And they like this storytelling method when they give you something new every week. I'm not just going into your lap in one weekend."

Networks are becoming more flexible in response to producer expectations as modeled by streaming services, whose seasons are shorter than the 22 network television events.

Producers can sing Netflix singing but the smart ones – Lorre – are not ready to write off networks.

"I have never had any bias towards broadcasting television," said Tom Fontana, executive producer of renowned NBC plays "Homicide: Life on the Street and HBO's" Oz. "It's like a vs epic poem to write. I have stories to tell, and whoever wants to listen to it, I will tell them."

For the whole community, network executives know that they need to try it out. ABC will show this spring the NFL draft for the first time, focusing on athletes whose lives will change. There will be more episodes about "American Idol" live. SPC Stephen Colbert often brings live after special events. Fox will start turning professional.

While CBS is still in business with name brand talent, the competition that creates streaming services "allows us to view new talent," Kahl said. "I don't think that is a bad thing. It might be good for us."

The Christian Brothers School, which has "NCIS" and other traditional action plays, is extending this season with a limited series, "The Red Line," which tackles the wrong and subsequent police shooting, and is the film maker Ava DuVernay ("Selma"). To improve even a standardized script fee, “cross-cutting” events are highly promoted for a series of sisters such as “Chicago” and “NCIS” CBS. NBC's emotional investment in the family play with an online "post-way" where spent members dissect key plot points.

"The idea is to have a weekly appointment where you have a community with your friends when you're tweeting and texting while you're looking at something together and you're talking about the next day, it's That's the network's television base yet, "Burke said.

Web also sells many years of infrastructures, morning shows and late night talk shows, links with communities through local nuns, numerous opportunities. Telegdy said when "The Voice" coach Kelly Clarkson was trying to try something new, NBC had a syndicated hand that allows her to start a new talk show.

Networks are, of course, far from islands. They are central parts of the media giants such as Disney and Comcast who rely on and reinforce their products. NBC is among the broadcast networks whose parent companies are among the co-owners of the Hulu streaming service. SPC launched its own streaming platform.

Cheeks said he might get a calming reply when he's back home in Cleveland to visit him and asks his friends where he's working ("What is NBC?"), But gets he discovered they are watching "The Tonight Show" on Jimmy Fallon on YouTube and streaming "Saturday Night Live."

"The way people are watching is different and there must be how we find them different," Kahl said.

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@Dbauder has Bauder on Twitter. Elber can be reached at lelber@ap.org and Twitter at @lynnelber.